The Underworld
by DracoIsLife
Summary: Hermione Granger offered up her soul in a desperate attempt to save her friend's life. What she didn't know was that the ruler of the Underworld had been waiting a long time for an opportunity like this, and he would not waste his second chance.


**AN: This story was created for the Hedwig's Nook in The Dark Mark facebook group. The prompt was a Harry Potter fic with elements of a chosen Disney story. I own nothing, the world and characters belong to J. K. Rowling and Disney. Also, thank you to my beta emotionalsupporthufflepuff**

_1980_

Tom Riddle was at the height of his dominion**, **he was known and feared throughout the wizarding world, he had gathered a great number of followers who had sworn their very souls to him, and most importantly, he had conquered death. Tom Riddle was immortal. If Dumbledore was ruler of the Light, with his holier than thou persona after having defeated Grindelwald, a God amongst men; then Tom Riddle ruled the Dark, he ruled over the souls of those who swore themselves to him, he ruled over death.

But Tom wanted more, he wanted power greater than any man had ever known, and he knew he would get it. All the stars were perfectly aligned for him to conquer the world. All except for a tiny detail, if Harry Potter fought, he would fail. Or so he had learned from the Fates through a prophecy. The one with the power to defeat him would be born as the seventh month died and he couldn't allow this to happen.

Harry Potter was a child of the Light, born to those that had thrice defied him, one of Dumbledore's very own. He knew what he had to do, he had to kill the child. So, when one of his minions, Wormtail, or Panic as he liked to call him as he seemed perpetually in a panicked state, brought him the news of how he could dispose of the child, he knew nothing would be able to stop him.

But Tom Riddle had been wrong. He had underestimated the power that came with being a child of the Light, a child of Dumbledore. Although he hadn't killed the child, he had succeeded in pushing Harry Potter away from the wizarding world, weakened, now that he no longer had his parents to protect him, vulnerable, no longer a God.

And as for Riddle, the rebounded curse knocked him straight in the chest and he woke up in the Underworld. He hadn't died because he was immortal, but he was trapped. He could no longer leave his world of darkness and lost souls. All he could do was wait until someone came to him to help him finish off the boy. So, he lurked in the shadows and waited and plotted, until he was strong enough to return, and take the wizarding world once and for all.

_11 years later _

Harry Potter had known he was different his entire life. He had… powers, that no one else around him seemed to have. He was stronger, and quicker and smarter than anyone he knew. Although he had grown-up in a loving home, having been considered a son by his aunt Petunia and her husband after they had lost their only son shortly after being born, he knew there was something missing.

So, on his eleventh birthday, when an owl swooped in with a letter addressed to him, his aunt Petunia decided it was time to tell Harry what they knew of his past. They explained that they had found him when he was only a baby on their doorstep with nothing but a scar and a letter. The letter had said that his parents had been killed by a Dark wizard, and that Harry himself was a wizard, a very powerful one who had survived an awful curse.

Harry should've been surprised at that declaration, but he wasn't. He had known all along that he was different. So, when he opened the letter and learned that there was a way for him to learn magic, a way for him to return to the world he had abandoned as a child and reclaim his place as a powerful wizard of the Light, he didn't hesitate. He hugged his aunt and uncle and said his goodbyes, ready to prove himself and re-take his rightful place in the world.

_4 years later _

Harry Potter had fully grown into his role as wonderboy. He was brave, righteous, strong and a true hero, always ready to help and protect. His friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had been by his side for the entirety of their time together at Hogwarts. Together they had fought evil from their very first year at Hogwarts.

But what Harry Potter had never known was how close to dying Ron had been on their first year, after sacrificing himself in the wizarding chess game in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry had left Hermione behind with a quickly bleeding Ron, taking raggedbreaths that she knew wouldn't come for much longer.

So she did the only thing she could think of in that moment of desperation. She invoked all the gods she could think of, Muggle or otherwise, begging them to save Ron. She had promised them anything in return. If there was a God of the dead out there, she had thought, take anything, take my soul, but don't take Ron.

Ron had taken a deep breath at that moment, instantly stopped bleeding and blood had once again rushed to his face. She gulped when she realized that she had been heard, and gasped when a mark burned on her right arm, a snake slithering out of a skull. She knew what that meant, she had sold her soul in exchange for Ron's life. But she couldn't bring herself to regret it at the moment. Ron had survived and that was all she could ever ask for.

Later that night, Hermione could feel the mark burning on her skin, almost becking to her, and she instinctively knew what to do. When she touched her hand to the mark she had been instantly taken to him, to his world of darkness and lost souls. He had laughed mockingly at her stupidity, selling her soul for a boy, but she hadn't cared. Ron surviving was all she cared about.

To her surprise, Tom Riddle was beautiful. Dark hair curled into equally dark eyes, high cheekbones, a tall form with a confident posture, lithe body with strong limbs, exuding power and dark magic. She had learned that after he created his first horcrux, Tom Riddle no longer aged. To avoid suspicions, he had developed elaborate charms that he used in public to make himself appear older, but Tom Riddle was forever sixteen.

He showed her his Kingdom, a place that was large and mysterious and dark, he called it the Underworld. He told her she could rule it by his side if she agreed to do his bidding in the outside world. Hermione refused, knowing anything he asked of her would be inherently evil. But he owned her soul, so she went to him often, as often as he called for her, as she couldn't resist the compulsion. But she placated him, convincing him that releasing the Basilisk would put her at risk, and he couldn't risk losing his only connection to the outside world.

She spent a lot of time with Tom. She sat there as he planned ways to defeat Harry Potter and conquer the wizarding world. And they spoke at length about everything and anything, his past and the future he envisioned as ruler, her passions and ambitions, their similar thirst for knowledge. He called her his nutmeg, "Meg" for short and she smiled at him like he was her whole world. They were equals when it came to their intelligence and they shared a great deal of knowledge with each other, and with time things changed for them.

Tom was no longer interested in purging the world from muggleborns, Hermione having long since convinced him that the wizarding world needed the introduction of new blood into their lines to keep them strong. And she was no longer loyal to the boy who lived, having since grown bitter at the pair of friends that had used her for her brains and abandoned her whenever they saw fit.

Tom and Hermione had grown close over the years, Tom asked her to stay close to the Potter boy and wait for her chance to help bring him down. Only then would Tom's curse be lifted, and he could leave the Underworld. When Hermione reported to him that they were holding a Triwizard Tournament, Tom saw their chance. He instructed Hermione to enter Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire, and to help him through his tasks so he could be one of the finalists. When Harry touched the Goblet after the final task, it brought him straight to the Underworld. The look of shock on his face when he realized he had been betrayed by Hermione had been priceless, but Tom didn't hesitate to strike and end the curse.

When Tom Riddle returned to the wizarding world he felt stronger and more powerful than he ever did. He had destroyed the only person prophesied to be able to defeat him, and he had found in Hermione the only true ally he would ever need. She was smart, ambitious and loyal. And Tom had a second chance to rule differently this time. He was sixteen afterall, and he could choose to take on a different appearance to "grow old" in this time around.

Hermione wanted to go back to school and finish her studies, so he went with her. It gave him the chance to recruit new followers, cultivate his old followers again and put a new plan into motion. A plan where he would become Minister of Magic with Hermione by his side.

_1 year later_

On her 16th birthday he asked her how long she planned on staying with him, and she knew what he meant - she'd have to be immortal to be with him for as long as he lived. So, they decided to make her first horcrux - she had long since resented the boy for whom she had lost her soul, who had later decided she wasn't pretty or girly enough for him. She had also needed to rid herself of the remaining member of the "Golden Trio" she had found herself pretending to be a part of for the past few years.

Time passed, and Tom Riddle grew in influence and popularity once more. His followers were quick to supply him with any funds he needed and him and Hermione were set to graduate as the brightest students Hogwarts had ever seen. They both had secured jobs with the Ministry that would allow them to ingratiate themselves further with influential people and quickly move up through the ranks to become the leaders of Wizarding Britain.

When they finally graduated, they wasted no time in undergoing a bonding ceremony, held in the Underworld they both considered home now. They bonded themselves to each other magically and spiritually, and together they were powerful and unstoppable. Tom Riddle had no question that this time around he would be successful, because this time around he had her. As they let the strong ancient magic bind them together for the rest of time, Tom held her face in his hands and let her feel the thoughts running through his mind, "My Meg, forever… until the end of time." She smiled and pushed a single word back at him "Always."

_The end_.


End file.
